MASTICATORY FUNCTION OF ADOLESCENTS

¹ Department of Oral Pediatrics and the Laboratory for Oral Physiology, Tufts College Dental School, Boston, Mass.

A study has been made of the masticatory ability of 250 adolescent subjects from 15 to 18 years of age. Masticatory performance was determined with peanuts chewed on the preferred side of the dentition, and converted to masticatory efficiency by a table. The occlusal contact area, found to be well correlated in previous studies with masticatory performance, was used again to measure the surface area available for mastication. There was no statistical difference in the masticatory performances between the sexes. Among children with all teeth present there was a gradual increase in performance with an increase in age, and at age 17 the per cent efficiency was similar to that found for young adults. The generalized muscular training of athletes causes no increase in masticatory ability. Subjects lacking a single molar from the preferred side had on the average about one-half the masticatory efficiency of children with a full complement of teeth. The food platform area was moderately correlated with masticatory performance.